Legal battle brews over Collier golf course views

While Collier County commissioners are mulling over a request to rezone one Naples area golf course into residential, the people who live around those links are preparing for a legal battle.

Thursday, March 24th 2016, 5:31 PM EDT

Updated:

Thursday, March 24th 2016, 6:39 PM EDT

Residents who bought into a retirement dream of a condo overlooking the golf course at Golden Gate Country Club are preparing for a legal battle as the owner of that golf course seeks to rezone for residential use.

The owner of the Golden Gate Country Club says he’s losing $600,000 each year with declining membership and admits he’s been lax on maintenance on the greens. He says membership has dropped from a high of 240 to just 50.

He is asking the county to rezone it, so that he can build condos and homes there in the future, replacing that golf course view for existing residents, like Bryan Joyce, who is one of more than 900 people that own abutting units.

“Living on a golf course as a golfer is that retirement dream,” said Joyce. “[This] takes away from what I thought I was going to have for the next 20 years of living here. You know of sitting down at the dining room table, sitting down at the living room table having people come to my home and looking at the view and seeing golfers out there.”

Resident Ron Ortlieb shares that sentiment about the possibility of tall buildings replacing his grassy view.

“I wouldn't be too happy about that. I wish I would have known that when I just bought,” he said.

Joyce said he doesn’t know if rezoning the land would prompt him to move, but if it did, he’s afraid he wouldn’t be able to sell his unit for what he paid for it.

“I think my property values will go down if that's not there now if I try to sell it.”

Frank Cocco is the HOA manager and says he’s organizing residents.

“Ready to go to war,” is how he described it.

He’s looking ahead to a number of meetings that have yet to be scheduled with the different parties involved.

“We have legal representation,” Cocco said. “This place was deeded a golf course to be a golf course. People bought their properties with that in mind.”

Commissioner Donna Fiala said she agrees that whatever goes into that space needs to fit in with the rest of the community.

“They certainly didn't pay to have a three-story condominium or three stories of low-income housing in their backyard,” Fiala said of existing residents.

Commissioners would have to approve a zoning change and whatever they decide could lead to an even bigger battle. If they approve zoning changes, residents say they’re ready to fight. If commissioners deny the request for a zoning change, they could have another problem on their hands.

“If they feel that they have the right to be approved, and you don’t' approve it, they can sue you,” she said, adding that if that happened, she doesn’t know how likely it is the property owner would win.

Fiala said this decision could set a precedent. The county has identified 10 other golf courses with the same zoning that are the most likely to request zoning changes, although most of them say they have no such plans.